When I found out my ex-husband was dating someone over a decade younger than him, I was not surprised.  I went on the record (had a few casual conversations with friends and loved ones) in the months preceding my divorce and I always speculated that his next partner would be half his age and beautiful. And I do love to be right.  

Age gap relationships are the subject of an ongoing social commentary; the discourse abounds and is the focus of psychological studies and think pieces that appear in publications ranging from Vogue to the BBC. There’s Leo’s Law (referencing 49-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio’s almost pathological decision to exclusively date women 25 and younger, but for journalistic integrity I must include that his current girlfriend, Vittoria Ceretti, is 26, and in 2022 he had a fling with model Gigi Hadid, who was 27 at the time.) We even have a general rule to determine if someone is too young (your age, halved, plus 7) or too old (your age, minus 7, then doubled) for you. My range is 25 to 58, but I have found my sweet spot to be any emotionally mature human being who shares my values and isn’t confused when I make a cultural reference because they either weren’t born yet or are too old to be chronically online like me- nothing kills a joke or a jolt of nostalgia like having to provide context. Generally speaking, I like having a shared history with my partner, despite us not being together for it. However, finding a good fit is subjective. Our relational wants and needs are all different and age can have as much or as little bearing on compatibility as you ascribe to it.